crossing his
stern face, "but, sir, one thing is decided. France, the France of the
Revolution, the France that belongs to its people, will not fall."

John looked at him with a new interest. Here was a peasant, but a
thinking peasant, and there were millions like him in France. They were
not really peasants in the old sense of the word, but workingmen with a
stake in the country, and the mind and courage to defend it. It might be
possible to beat the army of a nation, but not a nation in arms.

"No, Picard," said John, "France will not fall."

"And that being settled, sir," said Picard, with grim humor, "I think
you'd better lie down again. You've talked a lot for a man who has been
unconscious four days."

"You're right, my good Picard, as I've no doubt you usually are. Was I
troublesome, much, when I was out in the dark?"

"But little, sir. I've lifted much heavier men, and that Dr. Delorme is
strong himself, not afraid, either, to use the knife. Ah, sir, you
should have seen how beautifully he worked right under the fire of the
German guns! Psst! if need be he'd have taken a leg off you in five
minutes, as neatly as if he had been in a hospital in Paris!"

John felt apprehensively for his legs. Both were there, and in good
condition.

"If that man ever comes near me with the intention of cutting off one of
my legs I'll shoot him, good fellow and good doctor though he may be,"
he said. "Help me up a little higher, will you, Picard? I want to see
what kind of a place we're in."

Picard built up a little pyramid of saddles and knapsacks behind him and
John drew himself up with his back against them. The rows and rows of
wounded stretched as far as he could see, and there was a powerful odor
of drugs. Around him was a forest, of the kind with which he had become
familiar in Europe, that is, of small trees, free from underbrush. He
saw some distance away soldiers walking up and down and beyond them the
vague outline of an earthwork.

"What place is this, anyway, Picard?" he asked.

"It has no name, sir. It's a hospital. It was built in the forest in a
day. More than five thousand wounded lie here. The army itself is
further on. You were found and brought in by some young officers of that
most singular company composed of Americans and English who are always
quarreling among one another, but who unite and fight like demons
against anybody else."

"A dollar to a cent it was Wharton and Carstairs who brought me